OpenSSL is a very powerful cryptography utility, perhaps a little too powerful for the average user. With all the different command line options, it can be a daunting task figuring out how to do exactly what you want to do. Reading the contents of a certificate signing request (CSR ) is one of the common tasks that OpenSSL is useful for.

What is a Certificate Signing Requests (CSR) Certificate Signing Requests (CSR) are sent to a Certificate Authority (CA) to be signed. Once signed, a certificate will be returned.

openssl req -text -noout -in host.csr
    Certificate:
       Data:
           Version: 1 (0x0)
           Serial Number: 7829 (0x1e95)
           Signature Algorithm: md5WithRSAEncryption
           Issuer: C=ZA, ST=Western Cape, L=Cape Town, O=Thawte Consulting cc,
                   OU=Certification Services Division,
                   CN=Thawte Server CA/[email protected]
           Validity
               Not Before: Jul  9 16:04:02 1998 GMT
               Not After : Jul  9 16:04:02 1999 GMT
           Subject: C=US, ST=Maryland, L=Pasadena, O=Brent Baccala,
                    OU=FreeSoft, CN=www.freesoft.org/[email protected]
           Subject Public Key Info:
               Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
               RSA Public Key: (1024 bit)
                   Modulus (1024 bit):
                       00:b4:31:98:0a:c4:bc:62:c1:88:aa:dc:b0:c8:bb:
                       33:35:19:d5:0c:64:b9:3d:41:b2:96:fc:f3:31:e1:
                       66:36:d0:8e:56:12:44:ba:75:eb:e8:1c:9c:5b:66:
                       70:33:52:14:c9:ec:4f:91:51:70:39:de:53:85:17:
                       16:94:6e:ee:f4:d5:6f:d5:ca:b3:47:5e:1b:0c:7b:
                       c5:cc:2b:6b:c1:90:c3:16:31:0d:bf:7a:c7:47:77:
                       8f:a0:21:c7:4c:d0:16:65:00:c1:0f:d7:b8:80:e3:
                       d2:75:6b:c1:ea:9e:5c:5c:ea:7d:c1:a1:10:bc:b8:
                       e8:35:1c:9e:27:52:7e:41:8f
                   Exponent: 65537 (0x10001)
       Signature Algorithm: md5WithRSAEncryption
           93:5f:8f:5f:c5:af:bf:0a:ab:a5:6d:fb:24:5f:b6:59:5d:9d:
           92:2e:4a:1b:8b:ac:7d:99:17:5d:cd:19:f6:ad:ef:63:2f:92:
           ab:2f:4b:cf:0a:13:90:ee:2c:0e:43:03:be:f6:ea:8e:9c:67:
           d0:a2:40:03:f7:ef:6a:15:09:79:a9:46:ed:b7:16:1b:41:72:
           0d:19:aa:ad:dd:9a:df:ab:97:50:65:f5:5e:85:a6:ef:19:d1:
           5a:de:9d:ea:63:cd:cb:cc:6d:5d:01:85:b5:6d:c8:f3:d9:f7:
           8f:0e:fc:ba:1f:34:e9:96:6e:6c:cf:f2:ef:9b:bf:de:b5:22:
           68:9fi